Alex Marshall
Recent Posts
Good Streets Include Streetcars
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Last stop for Brooklyn’s trolley dodgers at Fairway Market in Red Hook. Devotees of the Red Hook, Brooklyn Fairway grocery store can have the pleasure, after loading up on gourmet salt and other essentials, of sipping coffee on their back veranda over looking the river. It’s a wonderful view. On your right is the Statue […]
Eliminate the Parking Requirement
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I’ve long bristled at the word "subsidies" that is applied so frequently to subways, buses and trains, and so infrequently to driving, even when the latter is "subsidized" much more lavishly than the former. The latest subsidy I’ve encountered most viscerally is the requirement that exists, even in most parts of New York City, to […]
Shared Space on the Brooklyn Bridge
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I’d bet that people walking outnumber people bicycling across the Brooklyn Bridge by at least 100 to one. I cycle across the wooden-slatted walkway that soars over the top of the bridge regularly now, and every time I do so I think about this. My rolling bicycle negates the space for scores of people every […]
Invisible Man
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The brain experts tell us vision is an act of discrimination. In other words, we don’t see everything; see what we look for, what we expect to see. Which probably explains how the guy on Avenue B over near 10th Street opened his door directly in front of me, just after sticking his head out […]
Tearing Up the Streets, and Pants
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A bicyclist in Amsterdam: "Dignified, civilized, unhurried and even elegant…" The ragged, angry tear on the woman’s jeans at ankle level was matched by her angry expression on her face as she looked in vain for some sort of consolation or advice from the bike shop attendant, to whom she explained how the front sprocket […]
To Obey, Or Not to Obey
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Not getting flattened by a 50,000 pound "big rig" is a good reason to stop at a red light if you’re on a bicycle. But how about less skin-saving reasons? Are there in fact, good reasons to ignore traffic regulations when you can, because after all, they are really meant just for cars? It’s a […]
My First Bike Commute Over the East River
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"Necessity is the mother of convenience" is what I found to be true this morning as I rode for the very first time from my home in Crown Heights all the way to Union Square in Manhattan. To experienced bike commuters, this would be nothing to brag about. But while a frequent cycler around my […]
Famed Danish Urbanist Jan Gehl in Town to Consult on PlaNYC
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The Urbanist Musketeers: Alex Garvin, Jan Gehl and Fred Kent in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 30, 2006. Jan Gehl, the famed Danish urbanist, is in New York City this week where, sources say, he has been hired as a consultant for Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC program. At a presentation to the board of the Regional Plan Association […]
A Solution to Stroller Rage
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The feminine part of "women and children first" has, perhaps, been dropped in our more equitable and less chivalrous times, but the kid side of the sum has not, at least that’s my sense of things. As a society, we generally try to put children first knowing they are our world’s future, not to mention […]
One’s Inner SUV Driver
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This is the third essay from Alex Marshall, who has written extensively on transportation issues as a journalist and author. He is a senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association, where he edits the bi-weekly Spotlight on the Region newsletter. "All SUV drivers are assholes," I’ve frequently found myself thinking as I face the […]
Segway Users: The Other Minority
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This is the second essay from Alex Marshall. As a journalist and author Alex has written extensively on transportation issues, he is a senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association where he edits the bi-weekly Spotlight on the Region newsletter. A guy on a Segway rolled by me the other day on 15th street to […]
Armoring Up on the Streets of New York
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We’re pleased to announce that Alex Marshall will now be contributing to Streetsblog. As a journalist and author Alex has written extensively on how transportation shapes our cities. He is a columnist at Governing Magazine and a senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association where he edits the bi-weekly Spotlight on the Region newsletter. Here […]